


Lingering Scent of Dreams

by NTEmbe



Category: Strange Men (Video Games), The Crooked Man (Video Game), The Crooked Man - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence, Clumsy Kisses, Cute fluffy shit that's awkward as fuck because why the hell not?, Drinking, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Hotel Rooms, M/M, Post-Game(s), bathtub scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 11:28:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13270488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NTEmbe/pseuds/NTEmbe
Summary: Set some time after the events of The Crooked Man, David Hoover seeks out D at the abandoned law school to fulfill a promise made to him. “How else were you going to fulfill that promise if I didn’t stick around?”





	Lingering Scent of Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written about four years ago by now. Never got around to posting it anywhere online because of plagiarism going on with my account on good old (read: bullshit) ff.net and their fantastic (read: piece of shit) support team. So, all this time later, I'm trying to rekindle writing fanfics, and I wanted to share this one for a fandom that gets very little traffic.
> 
> I understand that canonically D, Sissi, and Fluffy aren't actual individuals but figments of Duke's imagination, but I liked the chemistry between David and D enough that I wanted to write a story that followed what might have happened if all three of them had been real people tied to Duke MacGahan that had passed on but could still interact with the living world because of David's involvement with their lives and Duke's. So, here is the result of these wonderings.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading~
> 
> And yes, there is sex.

A flush brushed his cheekbones. Green eyes slid away to the side, rooting to the floor. The shoes of the man in question were still present on the edge of his sight, a tangible reminder of the gut-wrenching desire that rushed heat up his legs and pitted it dead center, stopped his voice and made his tongue thick, throat dry: the bold sign of his pure lack of effort to push the sandy hair and blue eyes far enough out of his mind to forget him.

 

None of them had forgotten David, nor would they. During the events with the Crooked Man, a bridge was made, a gift of transcendence, and they were able to become intertwined with the life of a man who still lived, who shared a connection with each of them. D had meant the words he’d said when he’d told David’s friend to go help him. Sissi, Fluffy, and D knew that there was little else they could do to aid him. It was out of their hands now. They’d done their parts, and David had done his. Together, they’d placed their own lives and each others’ into some semblance of order again.

 

They all had futures with no distinct path before them. They had problems still waiting right before their eyes that they could not run from or get around. It was time now… to face them.

 

But the smile on David Hoover’s face was still enough to throw him off and twist determination into embarrassment.

 

“I’m just so happy you came back.”

 

What did hearing that make the warmth in David’s blue eyes mean? Was D a fool for coming and trying to establish something—a dream he’d conjured—through the fulfillment of a promise? Did he cross boundaries of life and death for a taste of pleasure, or for hope?

 

Then a hand cut into his vision and he felt the firm grip of fingers wrap around his upper arm without hesitation, as though they’d had absolutely no doubt—once touched and once breached—that the rules of mortality had no boundaries for them. It brought D’s head up from where it had drifted away and David’s body was much nearer, enough that a sparkle now caught in his eyes and the smile had transformed into a grin.

 

“D!” David’s voice was breathless and uplifted, pleased. “You’re here!”

 

“I’m not here because I haven’t let go,” D scoffed back instantly, thrown off by the touch. An electric thrill ran through his arms and up his neck from the grasp of David’s hand. His first words were more reactionary than intentional. David was close to him, again, but the enthusiastic focus of his eyes was encouraging new problems for D. He could feel his ears reddening as he swallowed to moisten his dry throat. He uncrossed his arms and turned the unconscious scowl into a reflecting, if nervous, grin. “How else were you going to fulfill that promise if I didn’t stick around?”

 

The other’s lips shut, but the smile widened. “I would’ve looked for you,” David replied.

 

The crimson in D’s face deepened and he pushed past David, walking towards the road, towards where he could see the dim silhouette of David’s car in the evening darkness. “Yeah, well, whatever. You found me. So where are we goin’?”

 

Even from behind him he could hear the quiet laugh from David. The taller man trailed after him, hands in pockets. “I passed a bar and hotel on the way here. I figured that worked.”

 

D stopped in his tracks at the car’s passenger side and threw a look back at David. Mentally, his thoughts had derailed and imploded at the word ‘hotel’ and he couldn’t help raise the subject. “Hotel?” he inquired. The knot in his stomach tightened uncomfortably and he forced his body to relax. “What, are we gettin’ a room, too?”

 

David’s shoulders rose in a shrug and his eyes trailed away from D’s in the first sign of relenting he’d given, though the smile never once left his face. “Well I won’t be able to drive if I’m going to have that drink with you.” He unlocked the car. “You can walk home or you can hang with me if you want,” he said as he got into the driver’s side.

 

D snorted and opened the passenger side, getting in after David. “I’m startin’ to think I retracted that ‘shady’ a little too soon.”

 

“Hey, you’re the one who’s tagging along with the ‘shady’ guy willingly this time.”

 

“Just drive, old man,” he shot back as David laughed and pulled from the entrance onto the road. Slowly the school faded from sight behind them. The road was empty. The trees alone swept past as they drove. After a minute’s comfortable silence, with just the rumble of the car and the sound of the world slipping past filling the background, D slowly mustered the courage to push past the discomfort that still sat brewing in the pit of his stomach. “Yeah,” he breathed lowly, audibly. “I wouldn’t mind stickin’ with you for the night.”

 

A second later, “’specially if you’re gettin’ the tab.” He laughed.

 

David laughed too, bursting out with a little “Hey!” that was swallowed in D’s sudden nervous babble about how he had never been one for drinking excessively because of how much importance he’d put on his studies and being a good student. For all that David had wondered if it would raise some bitterness or pain to talk about, D seemed to relax the more time passed. Before long, he seemed perfectly fine as he prattled on, prompting responses from David here or there and filling the car with easy conversation. It was a much welcomed environment for the both of them: energetic, happy.

 

Although the drive wasn’t altogether lengthy, it felt the shorter for their talk, and what could have been a forced reunion with unresolved tensions, especially on D’s part, became an enjoyable ride even when they both fell silent after coming into the view of city lights. It was only after pulling away from an empty intersection once the light turned green that D voiced a thought that had been circling around in his head since the moment they’d left the school.

 

“Hey David? Is this the hotel that the Crooked Man followed you from, before you ran into me?”

 

Even as he turned his head to look at him, D saw David shake his head a little. “No, that was an entirely different hotel, and much further from the school. It was an abandoned hotel, kind of like all the places I traveled to then on my search for Duke MacGahan.”

 

“So… that was the name of the guy you were looking for all that time, huh? Duke MacGahan….”

 

“Yeah…” David breathed out quietly.

 

“Then… you found him in the end?” he asked.

 

“I guess you guys didn’t know everything then. Though I didn’t think you were lying to me,” David mulled over aloud.

 

“You mean about the Crooked Man being the ‘monster’ you were going on about to us, right?” D brought up.

 

“Yeah… Though in the end, I wonder…. Could I really call him a monster?” David asked. D remained silent. He knew that it was not a question he was meant to answer.

 

After a brief silence, he tried to bring out a light, joking air, testing the waters between the changes in topic. “No wonder you wanted to follow up on that drink.”

 

That made David laugh. “Yeah,” he answered once the laughter had died down, the smile returning to his face with an authentic warmth. He glanced from the road to D briefly, and D caught the small glimmer in the blue eyes again.  _ Good _ , D thought to himself.  _ He’s not faking it. Not anymore. _

 

“Hey, listen!” D spoke up again, cautioning David only half-joshingly, “If we’re gonna be drinkin’ together, you’d better be doing it with a smile on your face. I wanna see you havin’ a good time! You deserve it, man.”

 

“Look who’s acting like the old man now,” David threw back with a grin as he turned onto a side street and pulled into a parking lot. He parked the car and killed the engine, opening his door and stepping out into the brisk night air, talking as he went. “Maybe we should order you some prune juice when we get to the bar.” He pushed the car door shut and locked it with a turn of his key as soon as D was out, face red again—and spluttering, too.

 

“If we’re hangin’ out late tonight, you’d better grab two rooms, David, because I’m not gonna be anywhere near you if you spill your bowels!” D threw back, raising his voice in pure affront. David was grinning the entire time.

 

Throwing insults back and forth, they came around the car and walked side by side to the hotel entrance, with only David managing to come out on top in their arguments and pushing his advantage to humorous effects. Once through the doors though, David stopped and nodded to the spacious hall where the dim lights of the bar already caught their attention. “Head on over,” David said, turning towards the reception desk. “I’ll follow you soon.”

 

“Yeah, yeah!” D responded and made his way over to the right while David went left. A short walk down the empty hall brought him to the bar on his right. With dark brick, a few dim, smoky lights, and a sleek, dark wood theme with elegant blue lighting, the bar instantly offered an inviting, private atmosphere. Flat screen televisions were hung throughout the room, and the stools at the bar were full enough that D turned away from them immediately. Meandering deeper in, he eyed the tables and booths indecisively. In the end, he leaned an elbow on the counter and continued to glance around the place. Catching the bartender’s attention, he ordered a coke and rum and then locked his eyes on the wide entrance, waiting to see David’s figure moving down the hall towards him.

 

He spotted him just about the same time his drink was placed down at his arm. He thanked the bartender but waited as David entered the darker lighting and finally caught sight of him. “Hey David!” he greeted as David turned his way and finally came up beside him.

 

“Hey!” he returned comfortably and then lifted a small packet between his fingers to display… “Two room keys,” he said.

 

D was about to respond to that when David cut him off. “Aw, you got me a drink already? You shouldn’t have.” The glass was already to his lips and being tipped back before D even had a chance to respond.

 

His mouth dropped open and eyebrows furrowed in mild outrage. “Hey!” he cried out. “Order your own!” But the glass never dropped and the blue eyes only opened after it was empty, the glass set down on the bar as a smirk donned David’s lips. “Technically, I’m ordering all of them,” he responded.

 

“Yeah, well, we’ll have two doubles then, bartender!” D called out, catching the bartender’s attention once more. “Since this drunkard has no self control,” he continued, throwing a dark glare at David. But David only laughed and nodded to a corner of the room. Picking up the drink the bartender set down for him, he turned away and headed over to an empty booth, sliding in and leaning back against the cushion with a sigh even before D had grabbed his own glass and gotten himself settled opposite.

 

This time, David made no move to raise the glass to his lips, just keeping his hand curled around it, his head tilted back and eyes shut. He slouched a bit in his seat and D took this opportunity to take a good look at him. He knew—more, he had hoped—that things had worked out for David. He had trusted David’s friend, and he had trusted David to overcome what immense agonies he was struggling with. But depression left marks that were difficult to remove in so short a time. There were lines beneath David’s eyes and he looked like he still didn’t sleep enough. The corner of his lips naturally turned downward, as though he frowned more than he smiled. There was a slight wrinkle where his brows probably furrowed more than he let on. And yet this tired man… he had had enough in him to keep going and help all those that he encountered—without a moment’s hesitation.

 

He had heard a bit of what happened through Sissi, who had kept an ear out, mostly at the prompting of Fluffy. In a sense, they were all connected now, all of their separate lives, made all the more separate by the fact that most of them had passed on and that the only one who still lived was David. But through the Crooked Man’s dealings with David Hoover, he had allowed their lives to be touched as well as David’s. His journey had changed their connections, and tethered them all, once more, to what they had been unwilling to leave behind.

 

Strange how a connection like that could free them all now to move forward, and yet here he was… backtracking once more. D dwelled on this again, and it was not the first time in the past weeks that he had had this train of thought overwhelm him.

 

Somewhere during his thoughts, his eyes had fallen to his untouched drink, and now, as he raised his gaze to take a look at David, he found David’s blue eyes staring back at him, studying him just as he’d been studying David. The blue eyes were serious, but a streak of curiosity—perhaps a little inquisitiveness—was what held the clerk’s head tilted slightly to the side, what kept the eyes narrowed a bit, brows knit and mouth turned downward in calm consideration.

 

“W-What is it?” D asked, a little unnerved at being so studied.

 

At first, David didn’t respond. But a few moments later, he finally said, “We have to do this again.”

 

“Huh?” D said, a bit taken aback. “We haven’t even started! Or, at least, you started without me!” he pointed out.

 

This cracked the expression on David’s face a little and the eyes lost a bit of their seriousness. A smile slowly slipped back into place and David lifted his glass, a finger extended out and pointing at D. “You’d better start catching up if you don’t want me to outdo you, D,” he said and tipped his glass back for another swallow.

 

D tensed with annoyance and grabbed his glass. “Just remember, you’re buying!” he retorted and brought the glass to his lips as well, taking a large swig of it.

 

“Come on, you can do better than that!” David laughed after D planted the drink back on the table. He had barely touched his own drink this time, and seemed in no rush to put more distance between himself and the worked-up D.

 

“Don’t worry about me, David! I haven’t even gotten started!” D shot back and went for another large swig.

 

David chuckled and emptied his glass in the meanwhile. Raising it into the air and catching the attention of the bartender, he nodded and held up two fingers for another round. In that time, D came up for air after finishing off his glass, and grabbed a fresh one as the bartender brought them their next round, taking the empty glasses and leaving them to their amateur quarrel.

 

As D went straight into downing his next glass, David noticed the tinge of pink rising at D’s ears and cheeks already. With a smile, he asked, “You a light drinker, D?”

 

Taking an extra gulp, D lowered his glass to the table and breathed in the air with relish. “So what if I am, huh? Does that make you better than me?”

 

David only shook his head. “Nah… I’m not that great at holding my liquor either,” he admitted.

 

D snorted. “Sure you’re not,” he replied. He lifted the glass for another drink of it, though it was almost gone and focused on the tingling feeling beginning to buzz in the back of his head.

 

“So, why coke and rum?” he heard as he downed the rest of his drink. Putting down his glass, he took a moment and then looked across at David who had considerably slowed down the pace of his drinking and was taking comfortable sized swigs only every now and then.

 

“Why?” D repeated.

 

David nodded.

 

D just shook his head a little in response. “No real reason,” he said, glancing down at the empty glass and debating whether he really wanted more. “I just like it.” Deciding he could handle a little more, he called to the bartender for another round even though David hadn’t finished his last glass yet. Turning his attention back to the older man, he shrugged. “I used to drink this all the time when I went out drinking with my friends in college. Well, when I did go out. It just sounded simple and good, and it was, so I always ordered it.”

 

David was smiling again, but D wondered if there wasn’t a trace of sadness there. Maybe. Buried somewhere underneath all that. For him…?

 

“Hey, David,” he started, faintly indignant. “You’re the only person I would have wanted to share drinks with tonight, you got that?”

 

This made David blink a little and seemed to throw him out of whatever groove he was stuck in. The blue eyes looked at him a bit differently and without warning he straightened up slightly, shedding the slouch that had looked so uncomfortable. The bartender arrived with the additional drinks and took the sole empty glass. David thanked him automatically, but turned his attention back to D.

 

An uncomfortable tremor ran through D’s spine and up the back of his neck. He swallowed and then, to cover it, he picked up one of the topped off glasses and took a smaller sip from it. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted any more drinks now. At least they gave him a cover for the heat he felt rising to his face. He was beginning to feel himself sweat a bit under David’s continued stare.

 

About to demand he stop freaking him out, he was stopped short by David leaning forward across the table, glass still in one hand, the other laid upon the table surface. “D,” he said, voice lower than typical.

 

D automatically leaned across the table as well, eyebrows knit half in irritation, half in gut-wrenching anxiety. “What?” he nearly spat out of nervousness.

 

But David closed the distance between them by rising from his seat and tilting his head to the side as he caught D’s mouth with his own. The contact lasted a mere instant before D flung himself back so hard against his seat that he thought he would topple the entire booth over. He hadn’t even paid attention to the loud clamor the glass had made as he had spilled half of it over the table. His eyes were wide but his attention was divided between the petrification of his own body and the face of David that was left suspended above the table. He wasn’t upset, not in any way D could see.

 

David was laughing.

 

The first reaction D had after the shock, then, was outrage.

 

But David was raising his hands now, waving them in a cancelling gesture before a hand returned to clutch his stomach. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he was able to manage getting out through his laughter. “But I didn’t expect you to react like that!”

 

At the sound of normal words, D regained a bit of his speech and pushed himself forward again, gritting his teeth. “So you think it’s funny, huh?!” But this only made David laugh harder and D battled between frustration and shame as David attempted to regain his own sense of control over himself. D surged to his feet and grabbed David by the collar of his shirt with both hands. “You’d better have been grossly overestimating that alcohol tolerance, David!” he grit out angrily.

 

But David seemed to have been jolted out of his mirth by the grip of D’s hands and he raised his own to grab D’s wrists. Meeting his eyes, with tears of laughter in his own, David reassured him. “I wasn’t making fun of you, D. I was betting on the liquid courage to make this a little easier on you and me if I tried.”

 

At this D’s eyes widened in further shock. He felt his face flush entirely and his throat went dry once more, constricting and stilling his tongue. A small tremor ran through his hands and his grip on David’s shirt loosened slightly. “D-David…” he managed to utter. He shuddered and hung his head. His hands shook again and he abruptly tightened his fists, twisting them into David’s shirt. His mind was racing at a million miles an hour. He had wanted…. If it was going to happen… he had wanted to…. But what about David’s girlfriend…? What was going on?

 

He raised his head and looked David in the eyes then, his gaze collected and serious. “…you’re not making fun of me? For… for being attracted to you?”

 

A brief look of surprise crossed David’s face. At last, he dropped all pretense of attempting to ease the situation through mirth and shook his head, plain for D to see.

 

“No,” he stated, level and clear.

 

As though whatever spring had been in them was unlocked, D’s hands released David’s shirt and fell to rest on the edge of the table. David leaned back only slightly, enough to catch his balance, and watched D. After a long moment had passed, he spoke up gently. “Hey, D…”

 

“No… I’m fine,” D finally responded. He lifted his head and though his face was a red that rivaled his hair, there was a wry smile on it. Noticing the bewildered look on David’s face, D raised his hands, keeping his arms locked in a careful position. “I just… made a mess.”

 

David glanced at D’s hands and noticed they were wet. His drink had spilled and spread out all over the table, even wetting the redhead’s shirt and pants.

 

“Pffft!” David attempted to hold back his laughter and failed entirely as D joined him, catching onto the contagiousness and unfamiliarity of D’s joviality. It was an emotion they’d had very little opportunity to share with each other in the past, he thought as they grabbed napkins and mopped the table from opposite ends.

 

David’s clothes had remained dry but for an edge of his jacket, they found, and that was when D spoke up again amidst their hilarity. “But, I would like to try that again.”

 

David’s mirth didn’t die instantly, but he did catch himself and, pulling himself back into check, the sound gradually fell off into chuckles and a breathy, “Really?”

 

But the wry smile was back on D’s face as he grabbed David’s jacket and pulled him over the table again, forcing David’s hand onto the mess they’d partially cleaned for balance as, this time, D’s mouth found his first. This was much more like a kiss. Even half sticky and in an awkward position, they tilted their heads and the pressure of lips gave way swiftly to opened mouths and the touch of tongues. D pulled David closer and, though the edges of the table cut into their legs uncomfortably, the way D slid his tongue over his lips full made up for it in those first couple minutes. It was a little sloppy, a little fumbled, and though there was a definite difference in experience, D made up for it with a tangible hunger that ignored the embarrassment filling his cheeks with heat. It was a bit awkward and some small laughter escaped between them, but David loved it.

 

When D pulled back and released his hands from their tight hold in David’s jacket, a little line of spit was momentarily suspended in the air between them. It broke and fell out of existence as D flopped back onto the seat with a groan, hands rubbing his thighs. “Oh God, ow! That was a bad idea! Damn table,” he complained. It had been digging into both of them, and holding that position for long would have destroyed his back if he’d held it for too much more without any real support for his weight besides David’s arms. David had helped, sure, but it probably wasn’t much more comfortable for him either. But as David sat back down, wiping his mouth and chin slightly from their kiss, a smile was behind the shadow of his hand. D looked back at him and felt an additional ripple of heat surge to his pelvis.

 

“I preferred that one a lot more,” David answered to the look D was giving him.

 

“I would’ve seriously punched you,” D threw back, this time without any of the bite. He picked up the half-spilled glass and downed the rest without a pause. Planting it down afterwards, a bit louder than intended, the redhead sighed deeply.

 

But David stood up out of the blue, making D look up at him with a question in his eyes. Without answering, David reached into his pocket and D soon saw him pull a wad of bills out of a brown wallet. Tallying things up, David placed the money onto the tabletop with an additional generous tip for the mess and began to turn away. D leapt to his feet in surprise. “Hey! David! What if I wasn’t done?!”

 

“Then the next round’s on you, isn’t it?” he replied back without raising his voice to the same level. “Tab’s on the table. Sorry for the mess,” he said to the bartender as he passed him and walked out into the hall. D caught up quickly enough and as he reached David’s side, the man held out a keycard for him. “Room 183. Meet you there,” he said and turned away from the elevator banks.

 

“Hey, wait a second,” D protested. “Where are you goin’?”

 

“Around the corner. Be there soon.”

 

He could have griped on about it, but he didn’t. He stood there and watched David head out the doors of the lobby until he lost sight of him. It was at that moment, disheveled and tipsy, a bit sticky from the alcohol-and-cola concoction, that he felt himself relax entirely. He wasn’t stupid, and he wasn’t going to stick around in the hotel lobby for people to gawk either. He turned and, catching sight of the room numbers, headed past the elevator banks, turning down the hallway.

 

Finding the room, he got in and flipped the lights, wincing as he tested the levels of darkness they eliminated until he settled for the desk lamp temporarily. He walked over to the mirror and looked at the damage.  _ Yep. Sure looks like I pissed myself. _ He debated for a moment and then kicked off his shoes, leaving them by the mirror. Turning, he flipped the bathroom light on and stepped into the small space, reaching for the tub’s handle and turning the shower on full blast. He took off his shirt and the second one underneath while the water warmed. Then he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, shirking them as well. Pulling off his socks, he tossed them beside the tub and thrust his arm under the spray. It was hot enough to be pleasant without scalding his skin. He angled the showerhead slightly towards the wall and straddled the rim of the tub, grabbing a shirt and holding it under the shower where it had gotten soaked in an attempt to rinse out the spill before it sunk in.

 

He was working on his pants when he heard the click of the electric lock and then the heavy scrape all hotel doors gave when opened. He heard the rustle of a plastic bag and glanced over his shoulder as David paused at the bathroom entrance to kick off his own shoes beside where D had left his. “Trying to clean them up?” he asked D as he placed down the bag and emptied his pockets of phone, wallet, and keys.

 

“Yeah. Just so they’re not sticky,” D replied. After a moment more, he asked David, “So, what’d you get?”

 

“I picked up some condoms and lube.”

 

D could feel his stomach tighten and penis grow a little erect just at those words, even though he knew he’d been expecting them. Still, he laughed. His face, which had returned to a considerably normal complexion, flushed lightly again, and the butterflies in his stomach kicked up their dance, too. But even then, there was a pang of anticipation that rippled through his entire body. He had been wanting, dreaming of this even, ever since he’d gotten to know David during his soul-searching journey. And he’d been waiting for it all night, hoping for the chance that it would lead him this far.

 

“It’s a ‘just-in-case’ though,” David said, in the small space between D’s thoughts and his announcement of the items. “If you don’t want to so much as near that base, don’t worry about it.”

 

“You think I took off most of my clothes and waited with the bathroom door open because I wanted to give you a false impression?” D joked, twisting his upper body around to look at David. His pants lay forgotten in his hands, resting against a knee, soaked far past where they’d been initially dirtied.

 

“Hey, I’m not going to force anything on you,” David replied. “Even if you’re dancing naked in front of me.”

 

D flushed entirely at that mental image, but held eye contact. “No… I respect you for askin’. Most people wouldn’t. Especially when you’re an older and stronger guy than I am.”

 

At this, David’s eyes darkened and his words bit with anger. “Being bigger, stronger, and older doesn’t give them any more right than being smaller, weaker, or younger would. Sex isn’t something you force anyone to do, under any circumstance.”

 

D stared at David evenly for a while without speaking a word. His thoughts briefly turned to the relationship David had had—was now back into—with the girlfriend that had dumped him. But he wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with this at all. In that brief span, he turned his thoughts away from dwelling on it, trying to keep the pain out of his eyes as he pushed the thoughts away. He shrugged then, replying levelly, “You’re not forcing me. I just hope you bought enough to last the night.”

 

David stared at him, and then a laugh burst from him. D grinned in response. He thought he could hear some relief in that sound. “Yeah,” he admitted to David with a laugh of his own. “It’s weird. In a good way.”

 

David fished out the contents of the bag and placed them onto the counter. “Sounds like it’s not your first time,” he commented.

 

“Are you kidding?! It’s my first time with a man or a woman,” D admitted bluntly.

 

David chuckled at that. It was probably D’s nerves talking there.

 

Abruptly however, David felt fingers digging into his pocket and tugging him forcefully toward the shower. As he came within reach, he felt a hand grip his hip. The other was held out expectantly before him. Glancing down at D, he gave him a look of incredulousness, but D didn’t budge.

 

“Clothes,” he demanded.

 

David made a face and took off his jacket, dropping it into D’s hand. Grabbing his shirt, he began to pull it off. “What if I’d said no?” he asked, pulling the shirt over his head.

 

“Oh, you’re askin’?!” D dropped the jacket and grabbed David’s hips, sliding backwards into the tub and pulling David down in with him with a shout and laughter.

 

The water angle got David right in his face and he squeezed his eyes shut, laughing as he tried to move out of the spray and wipe water from his eyes. He could hear D’s laughter and feel him beneath him. “Damn it, D!” he shouted, squinting and blinking away the remaining water as he twisted around to catch sight of D and noticed how his vibrant red hair was entirely drenched, sticking to the younger man’s face and neck in absolute dishevelment, an equal victim of the shower’s deluge. The green-grey striped boxers that D wore were entirely wet now, and David hadn’t even begun taking off his pants. They were both soaked from head to knee, no different than the other.

 

“You asked for it!” D cried out with a grin, arms splayed back against the tub to support their odd tangle of legs half in and half out of the tub. Planting a hand against David’s back, he pushed the older man off his leg, prompting a shout of annoyance. Still reveling in the glow of his victory, D leaned forward to look at David’s face, this time protected against the stream by a hastily raised arm.

 

As the taller man felt D shift back into his periphery, his blue eyes turned under darkened bangs to look at him. A smile was settled on his face and it was the happiest D had ever seen in his short time knowing David. “You’re alright, right?” D asked, panting from the laughter with an open grin.

 

After a moment’s pause, David closed his eyes and nodded. A blush rose in D’s cheeks and his stomach lurched. He felt himself swallowing. It was the cutest thing he’d ever seen David do.

 

Then, opening his eyes a brief moment, David turned his head slightly and leaned back, the arm used to guard against the water now stretching across to reach up into D’s soaked hair, fingers clumsily burying there as he gently pulled D’s mouth down to his own. D had blinked at the motion but the moment David’s lips approached, he found his own falling the rest of the way to meet them. This time, it was easier. D leaned closer and slipped his arm around David’s waist, fingers trailing, exploring a little, before settling and squeezing the solid body beneath his hand with a little thrill.

 

The shower’s continuous rhythm was a comfort and encouragement as he leaned deeper into David’s lips, angling his shoulder into the water as he felt David lean back with the kiss, his hand sliding across the bottom of the tub and brushing up against D’s inner thigh as he shifted to give D more leverage. Even with the warm water trailing down their faces, this kiss was still not as messy as it had been before. The pleasurable aggression and tension of the first was replaced with a rippling ease and languid stretch of desire as one tongue curled around another and then slid off in an arousing tango.

 

Slowly, David’s hand fell from D’s hair, caressing his jaw as he dropped it. He did not hurry. He pushed his fingers and palm against the skin of D’s neck as he slid down further, gradually exploring with the touch, leaving the pressure of hunger in every centimeter crossed. He rubbed his thumb outward, brushing over D’s Adam’s apple and then moved his thumb slowly downward into the hollow of his clavicle. Whether intended or not, D felt himself growing harder with each steady second under David’s touch. His breath came shorter with each minute. Each small break of their lips found him gasping a little more, with even David showing signs of breathlessness, until a slight give in the arm holding David up preempted them both pulling from the kiss, panting lightly.

 

D inhaled deeply and slowly began to let it out in a sigh… but not before David had pursued him a second more—before D had the chance to catch his breath—a hand rising up to clutch the back of his head and pull him in again—hard—catching him by surprise as David’s tongue was drawn heavily over his lips; a last voracious gift.

 

Then he pulled back, turning back to how he’d been seated before, leaning his body forward to regain a comfortable position after having held to the previous one for too long. After a moment’s pause, where D could hear him breathing heavily through his nostrils in an attempt to control the panting breaths that wanted to come, David pulled his feet into the tub and moved to rise to a crouch before getting up. With this motion, D’s grasp upon David’s hip was gently broken. Still catching his breath, heart racing from the unexpectedness of David’s additional passion, he felt chills of excitement running up his arm and to the pit of his stomach as he drew his hand back so near to a suddenly very obvious erection that had only grown in equal prominence to his own. His hand returned to his own lap and he struggled to swallow as David got to his feet.

 

Though David had distracted him easily, now his entire back was in clear proximity to him, every muscle distinct as he moved, evoking memories of the strength D had remembered on many occasions since David had saved his life. As David stood in the tub, blocking the path of the water, D followed the body up, trying to catch David’s face but instead captivated by the trail of water lengthening his hair down the back of his neck. It was only a second later that D recognized the familiar sound of a zipper pull and dropped his gaze to David’s waistline as the pants were pulled down. The wet cloth went down stubbornly, tugging the near-black boxer briefs a little off David’s hips as he removed his pants. Without a moment’s hesitation he turned and dropped the pants down on the pile of half-wet clothes already there outside of the tub. They would clean up later.

 

D hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until David began to turn and look down at him. His eyes had been locked on the view from behind and below, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He grabbed the edge of the tub and raised himself as David finished turning around to face him, catching a good glance of David’s package as he straightened. It sent color right to every part of him, he was sure, from the heat that he felt engulf him. But he didn’t want David towering over him, even if he didn’t intend to, so he straightened, putting a hand bravely against David’s shoulder to catch himself as he righted himself from the odd angle. Automatically moving to help, David’s hands reached out to steady D, one grasping his extended arm by the shoulder, and the other coming to rest on D’s waist.

 

D’s breath hitched at the unfamiliar touch of David’s hands against his skin. A tremor—mildly uncomfortable and yet electrifying—shook his shoulders and ran through his back, all the way down to his feet. His body naturally wanted to lean back away from the touch, but the shuddering nerves twisting in his belly fueled him to shuffle his footing forward a bit, bringing them less than a foot from each other. The hands resting on his bare skin were already burning a hole in his body because they weren’t moving, and as he gulped silently, ready to step forward again in the hopes of eliciting a reaction out of David, he felt them naturally shifting, one over his shoulder and another up his stomach.

 

D’s throat tightened and his muscles automatically tensed as David’s hand moved down the back of his shoulder, sliding onto his shoulder blades, fingertips gently rippling over the skin as they landed. His palm pushed right up against the skin and slowly rubbed down his side before coming to rest right above the line of his boxers. The other was rising, moving with deliberate study across his pelvic muscles and then over a pectoral, flattening there with weight behind the touch, as though David’s hand wanted to push right past the skin and mold with his body.

 

Holding him there, not a foot from him, David’s eyes were no longer on his face but focused on his chest, on every sloping curve of muscle there, taking it all in, up close, for the first time. His hand rose slowly, fingers softly taking in every change and alteration in curve. D was captivated by this sight, watching as David’s blue eyes blinked gently, automatically, not once distracted from their intimate study by even his own stare. Caught in the same trance, breathless, he could only watch as David highlighted each muscle he encountered individually.

 

Then, abruptly, David broke the spell they’d fallen into. “This would be my first time, too,” he said softly, “with a man.”

 

That sent a shock of remembrance through D and he stiffened unintentionally. David noticed, of course, and lifted his gaze to catch D’s questioningly. Before he could ask what was wrong, D blurted it out, eyes wide, brows furrowed, mouth turned downward in despair. “Wait a minute, David. What about your girlfriend?!”

 

David’s eyes widened. Then, he gently hung his head, shaking it, and dropped his arms. D instantly missed the warmth of his hands, even under the warm water.

 

“When I told you I had a girlfriend,” David began, “I was living in the past… still refusing to face my own reality, and to let go.” There was a heavy silence, for a moment, before he continued. “…she… had left me… shortly before then,” he confessed quietly.

 

D was stunned. But then… was David intentionally leaving out that he had gotten back together with her after things had finally come to a conclusion with Duke and the Crooked Man?

 

“She came back, too,” David continued and D cut off his thoughts there. David was turning away and D reached out, grabbing his arm, refusing to let him fall into his thoughts and face them alone again. David noticed and glanced up at him. They held each other’s gaze for a long moment before David nodded and went on. “But it wasn’t a relationship that was going to work out. …even now, just because I’ve changed the way I think, doesn’t mean the problems she saw in our relationship have gone away. And I’ve had my eyes opened to them to some extent, too, now. She was scared to lose me, I think, like I was to lose her…. But that’s not a concern anymore. For either of us.”

 

D’s hand trembled, listening to this, and although he appreciated the explanation, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had to get off his chest.

 

“Am I backup?” he asked and did not let go of David’s arm.

 

David looked up in shock. “A backup?” he repeated, and then turned his head away, thoughts visible on his face as he mulled it over.

 

“Just to be clear with you,” D continued, with a bit more hesitation. “…it’s not like this is exactly healthy either. But… I wanna give it a go. I’ve wanted to…” He trailed off, but David’s eyes had already returned to catch his gaze. They were clear again. David knew what he had meant.

 

“You might be, but… I don’t think so,” David finally said.

 

The honesty made D turn his face away. “I’m kinda an unreliable backup anyway,” he said with a nervous huff.

 

David stepped closer, and D jumped a bit as an arm wrapped around the back of his waist. “You saved my life once,” he heard David say as he glanced down out of nervousness and then immediately back up when he realized how close David had gotten. “I don’t think you can call that even remotely unreliable,” David said when D had looked into his face.

 

“No one asked for your opinion,” D blurted out in an attempt to buy time for a more coherent response. The proximity and wetness of their bodies was distracting him tremendously and throwing his thoughts off-kilter.

 

David’s other hand was on his hip, and they were close enough that their bodies were nearly touching now. And David was leaning down and D was automatically tilting his head back, expecting David’s lips to take his. But David’s head passed his mouth by and in the brief moment that it took D to comprehend this, he felt the soft, warm, sucking sensation of David’s mouth on his neck. The hand on David’s arm instantly clutched tighter and a small gasp broke from him. His other hand clenched sharply at his side as David continued to move first towards his shoulder and then changed direction to slowly work his way further and further up his neck. Now he was breathing sharply, unused to the sensation that was becoming increasingly pleasurable, that was making his heart race and giving him an erection faster than any self-pleasuring and imagination ever had.

 

But a low voice broke in through all of this and set D’s head whirling even faster. “I don’t want you to be backup.”

 

D swallowed and tilted his head back, biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut. Trying and finding himself unable to force any words past his throat, he nodded and grunted emphatically. It was hard, but he forced something out then. “I don’t either.”

 

He felt a brief breath of air push against his neck, a soft and brief chuckle attached to the sensation. He could feel David smiling. “Alright then,” he murmured, and brought his lips down once more onto D's skin, pressing a kiss there. “Then you won’t be.”

 

As David’s mouth began to move against his neck again, D felt the shreds of restraint beginning to slip from him. His hands fell and both of them soon found themselves upon David’s hips, digging into them as he threw aside what he thought was restraint and pushed his body against David’s. And—“Oh…  _ god! _ ”—he exclaimed softly, completely out of his own control. David was rock solid, in body and erection. The thought that David was just as aroused by this as he was flooded D’s mind briefly and overwhelmed him. He was certain that if he wasn’t already wet from the shower, he would be staining his boxers little by little now. By the time David had come within an inch of his ear, D had heard his own voice go from heavy panting to small, strangled noises, to what he knew must be moans, to self-thought ‘too-difficult-to-breathe,’ ‘moaning-so-loud’ guttural sounds. He could not stop himself, especially when somewhere around “Oh…  _ god! _ ” David had pushed him up against the shower wall and shifted his hips to the side so they each straddled a leg.

 

At this angle the water poured directly on David’s back and down D’s chest. But what really distracted D was the sudden way that David lifted his mouth from under his ear for the briefest of moments, to slide a wet tongue behind his earlobe and place his lips completely over it… and suck it the moment his hand grabbed D’s erection. D’s head shot back against the bathroom wall so hard he saw stars for a split second, but he didn’t even flinch at the pain because David’s hand was around the bulge in his boxers and it was slowly moving down the length of it to the head. This time, D could not help himself from crying out, arching and pushing himself against David hard enough that he felt the taller man stumble a bit from it, fumbling his grip and letting go of D’s penis.

 

“D, are you alright?” David asked breathlessly, shifting his position to look into D’s face. He had seen D hit his head and known he’d gone a bit too far. But D still leaned back in a slump against the wall, supported by David’s hand, his head thrown back as he gulped in air.

 

“Y-Y-Yeah…!” he finally managed to strangle out between breaths. “I’m… more than… alright,” he panted, eyes still closed.

 

“Well,” David croaked slightly, voice low as he caught his breath as well. “I think we should… get out of the shower…”

 

D merely nodded, even though he had no idea how he was going to move at all right now with his erection throbbing the way it was. Just remaining standing was proving enough of a challenge. David must have noticed this as well, because he pulled D off the wall and against himself, supporting him as D shifted to lean on him while he caught his bearings after that last experience. David turned off the water and, sighing, glanced to D at his side. “You ready?” he asked.

 

D took a moment, and then nodded. Opening his eyes, he saw David nod as well and let him go. The water off, the room was much quieter, and D wondered with a slight quake how loud he had been after all. And they hadn’t even done anything yet! But David didn’t seem to mind anything that had happened, and D could not forget—could still see—the solidity of David’s own erection. D wasn’t in this on his own, and that was what made him the most comfortable, even when half of him was embarrassed to death thinking back on everything that had just happened.

 

But then David stepped out of the tub and pulled two towels off the racks. Putting them down on the closed toilet seat, he bent down to pull off his boxer briefs, and D instantly stared. It was one thing to check out another man to compare. It was another thing entirely to check out a man to check him out. And, though they were about the same size, it was an entirely new sensation to look at another man’s penis and consider that that would be going inside of you. Though it sounded silly to him to think of it this way, that seemed a lot less welcoming than what he’d always imagined going between a woman’s legs would be like. And yet another part of him felt the knot in his stomach tightening and knew that his own erection was growing harder just staring at David’s entire package.

 

D knew that David saw him staring. He also knew that David had to be experiencing the same thoughts and feelings that he was. He had said it was his first time, too. Even so, D gulped silently and glanced over to the towels. It took a brief moment of steeling himself. He knew David’s eyes were on his body. He knew they would stare at him as well, but he also knew David had attempted to cushion the discomfort he knew D would feel by doing it first.

 

He pushed his boxers down before he could think anymore or get himself worked up any further. He had to work around his erection, but it wasn’t any different for David. He let his boxers fall around his feet and kicked them off, stepping carefully out of the tub. He still wasn’t altogether certain with his movements after David had almost literally made him collapse from just the few things he’d been doing to him.

 

David held out a towel and D took it gratefully. “Thanks,” he said. David’s mouth turned upwards into a smile as he grabbed his own. “No problem.”

 

They toweled off and David turned toward the counter, staring at the condoms and bottle of lube sitting there, towel still in hand, resting over his mussed-up hair. D watched him as he finished drying himself off and considered tying the towel around his waist to keep some small comfort, though his erection would make it difficult either way. In the meanwhile, as if finally coming to a decision, David let the towel stay atop his head and grabbed both the products off the counter, turning toward D and then smiling reassuringly. “Wanna head to the bed?” he asked.

 

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” D said after a moment’s consideration, and he felt his body flush again. Whatever his nerves told him, his body knew exactly what it wanted.

 

“We can leave these by the bed for now,” David mentioned. He wasn’t trying to rush into it, and D knew that now full well. But it was like David to bring it up again just in case. And D would be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel better.

 

He moved from the bathroom and put his hand on the light to shut it off. Once David was out of the bathroom, he flipped the switch. Only the desk lamp was on for now, but David moved past D as he walked to one side of the bed and turned that light off too. The hotel room was now in total darkness.

 

D cautiously lowered himself to the bed as he waited for his eyes to adjust. He could hear David’s soft footsteps as he moved back toward where the bed was as well. True to his promise of forcing nothing onto D, David had gotten a room with two beds far in advance of what things had developed into. The one D was sitting on, waiting with anticipation, was the closer of the two to the bathroom. As his eyes finally began to adjust, David reached the other side of the bed. Making space on the bedside table so the room phone was out of the way, he put down the lube and box of condoms.

 

A little bold, D spoke up. “You might as well open the box. It’ll be less of a hassle later, right?”

 

He heard David chuckle and as his eyes got further used to the dark, he saw that David had discarded the towel entirely somewhere. He opened the box and even pulled out two condoms to leave on the corner of the table next to the lube, in easy reach for blindly grasping hands.

 

Then, he glanced across the bed at him and D nervously mustered a smile.

 

But David didn’t pressure anything. He merely got onto the bed himself and, after glancing D’s way once more, he lay back and shut his eyes, one leg up with knee bent. Sitting on the opposite edge, D watched as David lifted his hand and grabbed his own erection, gripping the head with enough measured pressure to make his face contort briefly in a silent expression of ecstasy. D’s own erection throbbed at the sight. David had looked at him right before this, and D couldn’t get the incessant thought out of his head that maybe he’d done it because he was touching himself with D on his mind behind those closed eyes.

 

David’s hand slid down and up, down and up again and the ministrations must have been enough to get him worked up because a small moan escaped him. Or maybe, D thought, noticing how much harder he was getting by the second, it was so pleasurable because David knew D was watching.

 

Swallowing louder than he had intended to, D crawled onto the bed and towards David. The moment he was closer, he could hear David’s small moans better. Or maybe David was moaning more because he knew D was coming closer to him? As these thoughts kept popping into his head, David made a sharper moan and jerked himself off a bit faster. This time, torture or enticement or honesty, he moaned D’s name.

 

A strangled noise that might have been a moan itself broke from D’s lips and he fought to stop from touching himself as well. His head felt light and was starting to spin again, and he could hear how shallow his own breaths had gotten. David was getting to him, and getting to him bad. So, instead, forcing himself far out of his comfort zone and to channel that desire in an unfamiliar bout of bravery, he reached out and grabbed David around the shaft of his penis. It was like he’d sent an electrical jolt through David’s body. The man arched up, leg sliding, and let go of his erection to grab the sheets on either side of himself. Left with just his hand on the hard, foreign object, feeling the pulse beneath the skin, D tightened his grip slightly and began moving his hand up and down David’s penis.

 

David let himself loose this time. His long legs straightened out across the bed, toes curling as he kept his fingers dug into the bed sheets. His head was thrown back and didn’t take long for D to realize how much control he had over David’s pleasure. He didn’t know whether to go too fast, so he switched between going very hard and fast to going slower and eventually even rolling his palm over the head of David’s penis when he saw that got particularly loud outcries from him. It didn’t seem like much time had passed before his hand was wet, and he knew it wasn’t the sweat of his palm, so he slowed gradually, waiting for a sign from David as to whether to continue or not, but it was getting increasingly harder to focus on just David when his own penis was begging for the same kind of attention.

 

But David sat up abruptly in the middle of the hand job and, gasping, grabbed D’s hand, stilling it over his erection. Just that lack of motion was a task, D could see. David clenched his teeth, lips curling back slightly as he threw his head back and groaned long and loud. Finally, after swallowing a couple of times, he wrangled out a rough, “Stop” that only confirmed D’s concerns. David didn’t want any more. At least not right now.

 

David’s hand loosened around D’s, and as David removed his, D followed suit and took his hand off the other’s erection. David, still supporting himself on two arms propped behind him, was sucking in air as though he’d been drowning, chest heaving. Finally, however, he leaned forward and reached out, placing his hand on D’s shoulder. Head hung, still trying to regulate his breathing, he managed to rasp out, “I don’t… want to cum yet. And you were doing… too good.”

 

That made D feel a little better to hear.  He had thought he was doing something wrong initially. But instead the grip on his shoulder tightened and then David slowly began to push him. Lifting his head, he said lowly, “Lean back.”

 

A sudden knot of fear formed in D’s stomach upon hearing that. “What are you going to do?” he asked nervously.

 

David looked up, maintaining eye contact with D the entire time as he pushed him gently back down on the bed. He exhaled deeply, still a bit breathless, and answered him quietly. “Relax,” he comforted, “I’m going to give you a blowjob.”

 

This almost made D spring back up again, but David was patient as he gently encouraged him to spread his legs with little nudges. Opening them, even a little, felt immensely uncomfortable. But grabbing one of the thick pillows from behind him, David handed it to D. “Put it behind your head, so that you can see what’s going on easier.”

 

“Are you sure this is your first time doing this?” D asked anxiously as he did what David had suggested. But taking a look back down at the way that David gazed over his erection, moving in closer until only inches separated his mouth from D’s penis, D thought he could see the nervousness in the older man’s face.

 

On hands and knees, David finally seemed to decide what he would do and balanced back for a moment on his knees while he firmly wrapped his hands around D’s hips.

 

Even if D had had a moment to get ready, he didn’t think it would have helped him.

 

Not. In. The. Least.

 

Right away, David opened his lips and put his entire mouth around the full head of D’s penis. David’s hand squeezing him there had been nothing in comparison. D shoved almost his entire fist into his mouth to stop himself from yelling as loud as he still did. His hips instantly bucked, craving, wanting, needing the hot, wet entrance that didn’t just touch him but was sucking him! His head whirled and he felt dizzy, even though he was lying down. His vision blurred and it was only between his enormous moans that he could even begin to hear the soft sounds of David’s mouth as it slid off of him and his tongue began to play around and under the head, even licking the hole and moving down and up the shaft, and then down again so that D could feel David’s mouth and nose buried in his pubic hair as he investigated what noises he could make D have if he nibbled a little here, suck hard here, licked along this. D was certain he was going to cum himself before they got any further. Somewhere between the way that David licked every inch of the underside of his shaft to when he decided to slip one of D’s balls into his mouth, to how he raised himself instantly after that and kissed the tip of his head, only to scrape his teeth across it after, had D from moaning at the top of his lungs to crying out David’s name with near every breath and asking for more.

 

“Davi—nnngh! Da— D-D-David! Oh God, David— nnnghm— oahh… a-ah…! Hhaah… haahh… nnn— nngh— NNNGH— DAVID!”

 

The last outcry was so loud and the futile thrusting of D’s hips so strong that he thought for certain that he would injure David with the intense reactions the older man was eliciting from his body. But it was at that point that David finally began to slow and soon stop himself entirely. D could not form a single coherent thought even after the pleasure had departed. Vaguely, he lifted his hand in search of his own erection to finish the job before he felt another hand catch his wandering limb and push, what he belatedly realized, were lips to its palm.

 

Then David was suddenly leaning over him and his voice was husky and hungry in a way D had never heard it. Nearly atop D, he leaned down and bumped his lips clumsily against his ear before he steadied himself and asked him a question. “Can I enter you?”

 

His erection throbbed at the words and he noticed only then that there was another hard, hot object resting against the inside of his leg, a thin trail of liquid mixing with the sweat he felt all over his body. His body arched slightly in anticipation and he nodded, mustering thought and then words as best he could. “…yes! Hurry!”

 

His hands were already aching to touch himself again, to return heat and pleasure and friction to where it had been stolen from. But a mouth captured his own for the briefest of moments and murmured a husky, “Guide me.” before D could feel David’s body pulling back, presumably to get the condom and lube. He could hear the wrapping being worked and then a small groan shortly after. Touching himself must’ve been hard for David as well when he was trying to hold off so badly. As the euphoria high slowly lessened and faded, D found himself listening, his eyes closed and penis still throbbing from the attention it had been shown. His entire body had felt as though it had been on fire. But the churning in the pit of his stomach was slowly, very gradually dying down.

 

The sound of the cap met his ears and he wasn’t sure if David had just opened the lube or if he had already finished and closed it. But when nothing else happened and the seconds ticked past, D finally got curious enough to overcome his blissful lethargy and open his eyes. He glanced down his body and saw David still applying the lubricant. He was being generous with it, it seemed to D, which silently pricked his thoughts with mixed anxiety and relief. That meant that it would hopefully be easier on him. The condom on first, the lube second, when D saw David put the lube back on the side table, he knew then that things were going to become intense.

 

David looked up at him and saw him gazing back. “How do you want to do this?” he asked.

 

D’s body suddenly tensed, the knot returning to his stomach. “I… guess… we can try with me on my back?” he said tentatively. “If it doesn’t work, we can try something else.”

 

David nodded. “Alright, D. Let’s try this, but… tell me if it’s not working.”

 

D closed his eyes and nodded. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly and then spread his legs as wide as he could without feeling pain. Opening his eyes again, he said, “Alright… I’m ready.”

 

David crawled forward and atop D until he was in what he hoped was the right position. Guiding himself, he pushed to go in and D instantly raised his voice in alarm. “Wait.”

 

David stopped himself and pulled back from the attempt. “Did I hurt you?” he asked with worry.

 

“N-No,” D responded, a little unnerved. “It just feels… strange, but… maybe we need more lube,” he suggested pensively. “You know, around there?”

 

David nodded, and D could see the nervous way David’s brows furrowed and eyes shifted away as he moved back. “Alright. Let me try,” he said and grabbed the bottle of lube, flipping the cap and ignoring the throbbing of his problem to focus on this. Generously again, he poured some of the lube into his fingers and brought them to the hole, rubbing it first gently and then steadily around the entire entrance. D had jumped a bit at the sensation, but he’d made no complaints. Just to make sure, David put some more onto his finger and gently rubbed, slipping slightly into the hole itself. A small noise came from D at this and David felt himself harden again at the unexpected moan. “D…?” he asked inquisitively.

 

D swallowed and arched his body very slowly before forcing it to relax. “Yeah,” he said breathily. “It’s alright. That… wasn’t painful.”

 

David paused for a bit, thinking, and decided to try it further. He applied even more lube to his finger and moved to the entrance again, rubbing it slowly and then pushing inward gently as he continued to rub. Again he could feel D tense and slowly retracted his finger from the small length it’d gone in. This time, he covered his entire finger with the lube and after ringing the entrance to let D know he would try again, he pushed his finger in steadily and slowly, attentive for any sounds of pain or discomfort. But D only tensed once more and David could feel the muscles of his rectum contracting around his finger, pressing against it tightly. He waited, hoping that the intense clutch of the muscles would relax to the intrusion, but a minute passed and he didn’t feel them letting him go. Gently then he attempted to move and D made a peculiar noise, half between discomfort and its opposite. David moved his finger a little more, slowly attempting different motions to see if they would hurt or please D, but neither truly happened.

 

At last David slowly pulled his finger from the entrance. “D, are you still okay to do this? Do you want me to try again now?”

 

“David,” D murmured quietly, “Try it. Just… put more lube on since we’ve probably wiped it off.”

 

David smiled at the reassurance and reapplied the lube to his penis, and some more to the entrance where he was going to attempt again to enter. He positioned himself easier this time but lined himself up patiently. Wrapping his hands around D’s hips, gently, as slow as he could bear to go,  he began to push against the entrance. D shut his eyes almost immediately, his brows furrowing and head tilting back.

 

“Tell me if I need to stop,” David reminded with a note of worry in his voice. But D shook his head and ground out, “Keep going.”

 

David continued to push and this time, he was finally entering D. He watched as D’s mouth fell open, but no noises emerged. Only his face contorted strangely and he occasionally bit his lip and breathed heavily through his nostrils. David kept going in this painfully slow way until he was most of the way there, signaled by D gripping his wrist tightly. “Wait,” D struggled to get out. So tight within him, David attempted to level out his breathing. Though it had been hard, it was not an entirely uncomfortable feeling being inside a man. But then again, he was not in D’s position and did not know what he was feeling.

 

Then D squeezed his wrist again and uttered a soft, “Go. …slowly.”

 

An excited chill ran through David, but he attempted to keep it in check. Slowly he pulled out just some of the way and then reversed direction and pushed back in. A strangled noise escaped D, but he did not tell him to stop, so David cautiously did it again, a little faster. It was slow, and it was maddening for him, feeling the friction that made him throb. He was breathing heavily just from the effort to keep himself in check. It was the worst of tortures, such slow, drawn out pleasure.

 

But as he gradually moved faster, and then a little bit faster, faster every time he pulled out and then pushed himself back into D, he heard the small encouragements or cautious noises from D that guided his speed and checked his eagerness when needed or urged it on gleefully. But after a certain point every noise from D’s lips was losing its word quality and turning into moans, and on occasion he would whisper, “There.” and David would attempt to hold the same position as he pushed back in. And then it became faster, and faster yet, and D was becoming gradually louder until David was no longer thinking of control and just moving and moving and moving, and rocking D backwards slightly with each thrust until he had to let go of D’s hips to throw himself further and stretch above D, holding himself up on his hands while D shifted his legs higher into the air and began moaning to the rhythm of each thrust.

 

David shifted slightly with each thrust and slowly forgot words for the sound of his own grunts and hungry breaths of air, mixing with D’s encouraging moans. They went faster and David began ramming himself into D with voracity. D’s hands were all over his back, and David was getting close to the point of losing himself. D’s name began spilling from his lips at irregular, louder, more hurried intervals. Then he thrust into D with particular strength and the redhead screamed. He had no doubt about the ecstasy in that enormous sound, in the fire under the layer of sweat he felt on their skin. He pulled out further and slammed back into D and the beautiful cry was repeated, his name on D’s lips, sung at the top of his lungs. Again, again, again he elicited this sound as he thrust back into the younger man, feeling his groin tighten and grow hotter by the second, until time and sight and sound was lost and all there was was the pleasure driving him into D’s body again and again.

 

Then D’s body tensed and the whole form arched in one tight arc beneath David’s continued ministrations and David watched him cum through the slits of his eyes, driving himself wildly into D to finish, and crying D’s name when he came seconds after.

 

David collapsed after the last long thrust that kept D moaning even as David climaxed. It was impossible to hold himself up after that, and he fell atop D’s chest, cheek sliding against the sweat and probable cum, no concern for it at all. They regained their breath slowly together, chests heaving against one another, until eventually they could focus on the sound of one another’s breathing and forget their own ecstasy. Minutes dragged by, possibly longer, and they had no desire to move, but eventually David forced himself to rise up onto his hands and gently pulled out of D before his erection fully began to leave. Falling to the side of D, David slid off the condom and, fumbling with his shaking hands, tied it off so it wouldn’t create any more mess than they already had.

 

He did not even care that he dropped it on the floor, since he planned on tidying everything up… later. Much later.

 

But at this moment, D sat up slowly and began to crawl to the head of the bed. They had never turned themselves around after the blowjob and did not care to. But now D was fishing out the blankets from under the heavy pillows at the head of the bed and moving to slip under them. Without a word, David watched him, admiring the tiredness in the body like a piece of art, before he followed suit and crawled to the head of the bed after him. Lifting up the other edge of the covers, he slid underneath them and then moved close to D. Frankly, they were both exhausted. But a quiet murmur found its way out of D as he turned himself towards David, arms wrapping around the taller man, welcoming him, before he could even begin to do the same. Pleasantly, resting his head against his chest, the redhead pushed his legs forward, tangling them in his own beneath the covers. “We do need to do this again,” he muttered.

 

“Mmm…” David replied, eyes already shut, arms wrapped fully around D’s back and waist.

 

“After… nap,” D murmured with more of a tired lisp.

 

David only smiled.

 

“Much more,” he rasped in reply to D.

 

It took no time at all for them to fall asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to happy endings for all those that deserve it. *Raises a glass* May you ever change their fates for kinder ends, my fellow authors and readers. Thank you so much for reading. <3 Even if you don't leave a comment on my fic, please do leave feedback for other authors. Even just a kudos. It goes a long way for all of us who put our hearts and souls into these stories and worlds and characters. We wouldn't be able to have nearly as good a time of it if it wasn't for all of you reading this. Thank you.


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